mislead is offensive. >> could you protect ambassador stevens? >> announcer: "special report investigates: death & deceit in benghazi." from washington, d.c., here is bret baier. >> bret: it looked like this election was all about the economy. but that changed when terrorist murdered four americans at the united states consulate in benghazi, libya, on the anniversary of 9/11. americans had questions. who did this? how? should our government have seen it coming? did president obama try to hide the truth? is this a huge scand that exposes a failed obama foreign policy? or is mitt romney just saying it is? tonight, we'll try to give you answers. we'll walk you step by step through the terror that unfolded that day. we'll break down the political maneuvering that followed. but we begin with a series of frightening developments and

troubling decisions leading up to the horrific night in benghazi. it's a story you haven't heard. told by a man who tried to prevent what happened. on september 11, 2012. >> did you a close relationship with ambassador stevens? >> i lived and worked with him. >> bret: no one understands more than lieutenant colonel andrew wood. of the full extent of the fiasco that killed stevens. he worked closely with stevens for six months in libya before the violent death. a 24-year u.s. special forces veteran, woods' job was to try to prevent such an attack from occurring. >> it was my first reaction when i heard ambassadorsteins had been killed. i was angry.

>> there was a lot of information. >> bret: we begin the story in the winter of 2011. a year before wood arrives in libya. colonel is still in power. the u.s. state department withdraws the personnel from the capital. sick weeks later, april 5, 2011, it sends stevens with a 12-man team by chartered boat to benghazi. now under rebel control. as special representative to the rebels. stevens set up shop in hotel. june 1, 2011, car bomb explodes in a parking lot in front of the hotel. in august, stevens settled on a compound on the west side of the city. >> it was from owner who had a

nice place there and out buildings as well. >> bret: not a lot of security. >> like in my residence. not a fortress. >> bret: inside the walls are four buildings. one is a large residence with a number of bedrooms in it. another residence had a can tina where the staff eats. just across the way, is what they call the tactical operations center. filled with offices for security staff. phones, and security monitors. finally the barracks, small house by the main gate of the compound. it will house libyan security force. >> libya, october 20, 2011. colonel gaddafi is captured and killed by rebels in his hometown. >> revolutions of war. the killing goes on. so sometimes it prevents killings, going back and forth. still fighting going on. >> bret: with gaddafi gone, ambassador stephens will spend much of his time at the main u.s. embassy building in

tripoli but he comes to benghazi often. the state department upgrades physical security at the property. >> he extended the height of the outer wall. >> charlene lamb of the state department. >> barbed wire. razor wire. >> inside the large residence a fortified safe haven is built. you enter through a heavy metal grill with several locks on it. >> tell me about the safe haven. >> bars on windows. bars -- building a jail cell. you are going to get inside. it's a delay. until you can get some relief. to get out of there. >> it consists of special agents and four member of the libyan government security force called the 17th february brigade. former u.n. ambassador john bolton. >> it is the responsibility of host governments to provide for security for all diplomatic establishments within their territory. from the u.s. point of view, we have to recognize that some

countries are better able to do that than others. when you are in a high threat environment, we have to do what is necessary to protect our personnel on the ground. >> there is more security at what is called the annex. mile away. based in tripoli, but moving around the country is a department of defense site security team. february 12, 2012. lieutenant colonel wood who joined the utah national guard after his two-plus nebraska u.s. special forces. arrives in libya as the new commander as the s.s.t. it had 16 members. >> yes. >> bret: what exactly did they all do? >> security, special operations soldiers. they had extra skill to bring to the facility. >> bret: could a team that small be effective? >> caliber of individuals on team were the best in the united states inventory. they could make a difference in any firefight.

>> bret: the problem, however, is that s.s.t. is slated to end its tour in libya by summer's end. the security situation taking an ominous turn. >> spring of 2012, terror attacks in libya; is that right? >> true. the nature of things started to change. when i first got on the ground, lawlessness going back and forth. as things progressed. commotion settled down a little bit. target of attack seemed to pick up and targeting more toward westerners. >> april 6, 2012. a bomb is tossed over the wall of the benghazi compound. june 6, 2012. an i.e.d. is placed on the compound north gate. no one is injured in either incident. that is not the case five days later. >> june 11, 2012. a convoy transporting great britain's ambassador is ambushed in benghazi. he isn't hurt but two of his security aides are.

>> bret: clear there was a terror attack. >> conducted the investigation a couple of days afterwards. walked the ground. took photographs. examined the vehicle. they knew what they were doing. it was definitely an assassination attempt by skilled operators. as i could see it, i could see the adversaries were growing stronger. we were the last thing on their target list. >> bret: in the past year, there have been 230 security incidents in libya. what is apparent to wood is that terrorists are working on increasingly bigger plot. >> i had seen, this is occurred prior to that. for example, the other bombings, you know, i saw series of things going on. appeared to me that they were building toward an additional attack. >> that is why wood and eric nordstrom, the regional security officer imploreed the state department to keep woods s.s.t. force in libya. beyond its scheduled august

departure. >> we weren't requesting additional security. we were requesting to keep security we had. that was taken away. >> you want to keep your team on the ground. the team in place already. >> yeah. my team was small part. m.s.d. >> bret: that stands for mobile security detachment team. >> a lot of those are exgreen berets, exnavy seals. there were three msd teams when i got on the ground. >> bret: august 5, 2012. the state department decides not to keep the s.s.t. in libya. and the m.s.d. team is being reduced as well. so who opposed it? >> charlene lamb. she denied the requests or ignored them or just didn't fill them. >> why is that? you knew about all the other attacks that had taken place.

>> we had been training local libyans and arming them for almost a year. >> let me interrupt. >> why do you think the request was denied? >> i don't know. i really don't know. in the case of the s.s.t., that was provided to them by d.o.d. the state department didn't have to pay money. i can't imagine why. i can't fill in the blank. that is part of what was trying to come out of a congressional investigation. >> were you flabbergasted like what can we do? we couldn't even keep what we had. >> i think what was motivating the state department was that if we had security that would have truly been appropriate, it would have been an admission that conditions on the ground in libya were not safe. and that would have violated the world view that this had been an administration success. >> bret: you left libya in august. less than a month before the attack. >> august 14. >> bret: how did you feel about the security situation when you left? >> i didn't like it.

i said as much. my concerns were specifically for benghazi. >> bret: september 10, 2012. ambassador chris stephens arrives in benghazi for a full day of meetings beginning the next morning. his first trip there since woods' security team left the country. >> going to a dangerous place like benghazi. >> yes. >> bret: he knew it. didn't he? >> yes, he knew. he went anyway. because i think in his heart the mission came first. >> bret: september 11, 2012. a mob gathers at the u.s. embassy in cairo, egypt and then scales the walls bonders the american flag. the -- burns the american flag. the explanation they're angry at obscure video produced in california. meanwhile, something else is going on in benghazi. at about 5:00 p.m. eastern time, the first reports about an attack come across the wire. it won't be until morning,

however, until america learns how serious that is. >> we weren't there. we just weren't there. >> bret: if you were, could you have protected ambassador stevens? >> well, the more guns you have in a firefight, the better chance you have of winning. >> bret: when we return, "special report investigates" is on the scene in benghazi. what happened that night? greg palkot has the story of heroism and disaster. [ male announcer ] how do you help doctors turn billion of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it.

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can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. >> bret: the details are still coming out about what happened in benghazi on september 11. in off-camera briefings, in congressional hearings, "special report" has investigated as well. greg palkot took that information and went to benghazi himself. there he talked to eyewitnesses.he abandoned compound for additional clues. now he pulls it all together.

and walks you through a timeline of terror you won't soon forget. >> september 11, 2012, warning: the u.s. ambassador to libya chrissteins has a full day of meetings ahead of him. but since it's the 11th anniversary of the al-qaeda attacks he schedules all of them out of caution behind perceived safety of the u.s. mission wall in benghazi. 7:30 p.m., stevens takes his last meeting in the large residence building with the turkish consulate general. it ends after an hour. 8:30,steins escorts the diplomat to main gate. he makes small talk in arabic to the guard. and returns inside. >> at this point, on the main gate of the compound other side of the u.s. mission wall in benghazi neighborhood, all is quiet. no stirring of any protests. of the real hell about to unfold. >> in fact, the ambassador decides to turn in for the night. 9:00 p.m. still no sign of any kind of spontaneous demonstration over the web video.

protest the obama administration would later suggest escalated to a deadly riot. joiningsteins in the main residence building is information management officer sean smith and four diplomatic security special agents. another agent at the nearby tactical operation center. all the agents are armed with pistols. 9:40 p.m., the amateur video apparently captures the first movement outside the compound. the mad mob of attackers break through here. the main gate, a weak point in defense of the mission. then they move on here. they understaff the militia bay racks and they storm the place, torch it. light up the embassy cars around it. then they move on. >> eyewitnesses the fighters are well armed and organized. flying the radical islamic flag. the agent in the operation center sees and monitors scoring of men pouring in the compound. >> diplomatic security agent

working in tactical operation center immediately activated the imminent danger notification system. >> state department official lamb was working that night in washington. so she could follow the events in real-time. >> also alerted the quick reaction security team stationed nearby. libyan 17th brigade, embassy in tripoli and the diplomatic security command center in washington. >> back here in the main residence, the special agent reportedly comes here and gets ambassador stevens from his bedroom and brings him along with sean smith to this room in the safe haven. really aside from medicine and other supplies, a big dark windowless closet. then outside, a locked gate. hoped for security. they radioed the others in the compound to say they are fine. the other security officers are scrambling. gunfire and explosions. gathering up machine guns and

body armor in other buildings. as they head back to main residence they are cut off by group of armed men and decide to go back and barricade themselveses in. at this point there are seven americans at three different locations. ambassador stevens and two others in the main residence. two special agents at the second residence. cafeteria. here, in the tactical operations center, two more agents. attackers all around. one group penetrates the small residence. the attackers don't get to the agents and they eventually leave. inside the main residence a different story. attackers come in here and they ransack the place and then they go for the locked gate. they look inside. it's dark. they can't see anything. then they try the lock. they can't open it up. inside, agent uben has a gun trained on them. ready to shoot if needbe. lieutenant colonel andrew woods said the safe haven is only safe for a short time. >> it's a delay for an aggressor. but it has to rely on someone

to come in. >> that someone woods said might have been his own security team but they have been pulled out of the country. either way, stevens, smith and uben were trapped. by diabolical killers who poured diesel fuel around the house, light it and leave. >> bret: when we come back, the trapped americans try desperately to

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>> bret: before the break, carl paladino told you how terrorists overran the u.s. consulate compound in benghazi, libya. a handful of americans caught by surprise. pinned down in three different locations. three of those people including ambassador chris stevens have locked themselveses in the so-called safe haven. constructed in one of those buildings. the attackers can't break in. so they have set the place

ablaze. once again, from benghazi, here is greg palkot. >> september 11, around 10:00 p.m. the entire safe haven which takes up part of the first floor of the main residence is black with thick smoke and fumes. ambassador stevens, sean smith and uben pprove to the bathroom in the safe area with a window. they try to open it, but it doesn't help. there is just too much smoke. they drop to the floor, trying to get air. even down there, they can't breathe. they have to leave the safe haven and take their chances with the armed attackers who have taken over the u.s. compound. fighting the heat and smoke, they find another window grill they can open. this is the window that special agent uben jimmys open and crawls out of. steven and smith do not crawl out after him. so even though he can barely see and barely breathe he goes back in. goes in and out several times. he can't find them. he is overcome with smoke.

uben struggles up a small ladder to the roof of the building and collapses, he radios the other agents. another u.s. agent in full combat gear i merges from the tactical operation center wit. he gets the two agents up there out and three get to armored vehicle. they drive a short distance to the residence. taking turns they crawl in residence on their hands and knees, feeling their way through the building to try to find their two colleagues. they find smith, they pull him out of the building. he is dead. now remember, the crack site security team is gone but the small unit of security at the annex a mile away. six americans and 16 from the libyan militia arrive. some surround the compound. the other goes in. they're unable to find stevens. by 11:00, the libyan forces say they can no longer hold the perimeter. the american agents carrying smith's body pile in to an armored vehicle and exit the

main gate. they head for the annex about a mile away. the crowd fires upon them and throws two grenades under the vehicle. they take direct fire from ak-47 from two feet away. despite two blown tires and heavy damage to vehicle they keep going. then they hit more traffic in busy neighborhood. the baccari rines over the middle divider, pushes forward against opposing traffic and makes it to the annex and again hope for safety. some time after midnight back at the mission, looters enter the building and find the body of stevens slumped on the floor. although they don't know who he is. they drag him out, his eyes are dazed, face is smoke stained. lifeless. someone says he is breathing. the crowd is relieved and cheer. allah akbar, god is great. around 1:00 a.m., ambassador stevens brought by car to the benghazi medical center where they try to resuscitate him

for 45 minutes. they fail. he dies of severes a fissioniation. at the annex, battle is on again. fighters hit with ak-47 fire and rocket-prepeled grenades. forcing those inside to retreat to a building further back to the annex compound. sometime after 1:30 at the benghazi airport, a team of reinforcements arrive from the u.s. embassy in tripoli. they make their way to the annex. according to reports, they were going in to an ambush. around 4:00 a.m.,, this annex compound hit by a wave of attacks described as planned and precise. round of mortar fire targeting the roof of a building behind the escape. that turns out to be dangerous and deadly. killed in that attack, two security personnel. glen doherty, 42. tyrone woods, 41. both former navy seals. badly injured special agent david uben. the same man who struggled valueiently to save the lives -- valiantly to save

lives of stevens and smith. the fighters are repelled. anex reportedly a base of operation for sensitive intelligence work tracking militants in eastern libya is secure. decision is made to evacuate the whole enterprise. 8:30 a.m. september 12. the second plane leaves with the remaining americans on board. and the bodies of ambassador stevens, smith and agents doherty and woods. it's less than a month since the military site security team left the country to the regret of the commander lieutenant colonel andrew wood who says they would have made a difference. >> it was the job of the s.s.t. team to protect the ambassador. it was our job to defend the compound and engage the targets. >> chrissteins was the first u.s. ambassador killed on duty in more than three decades. september 11, 2012, was a tragedy that will long be remembered. then the story moves back to

washington. was what followed the fog of war? an attempted coverup? or something else? "specia [ male announcer ] how do you make america's favorite recipes? just begin with america's favorite soups. bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. or best-ever meatloaf. go to campbellskitchen.com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

>> bret: the carnage in benghazi is over. the story shifts to washington. here is chief white house correspondent ed henry. >> since our founding, the united states has been a nation that respects all faiths. we reject all efforts to denigrate religious beliefs of others. >> september 1112 12, presidentd his top aide, investigate that ambassador stevens and three other americans were killed in spontaneous riot over anti-muhammad internet video and not a planned attack. he uses the term "terror" but only in a general sense, context of september 11, 2001, al-qaeda attack. >> no acts of terror will

shake the resolve of the great nation. alter that character. or eclipse the light of the values we stand for. >> he gives an interview to cbs "60 minutes" shortly thereafter and says nothing that happened made him second guess his policies in the middle east since the arab spring. >> i was certain and continue to be pretty certain that there are bumps in the road. >> because nevada a battleground state -- >> that afternoon, the president leaves for campaign trip to las vegas. >> president of the united states did not postpone a campaign event especially though we had been hit. >> i said at the time that was the biggest political strategic mistake of the obama campaign. >> ladainian tomlinsodana perins secretary for bush administration. now a fox news host. >> imagine if i said as commander-in-chief it's important to stay at the white house. everybody would have thought wow, how responsible. >> when the president made his statement, i'm not sure what he should have done.

>> democrat eleanor holmes norton represents the district of columbia. >> to sit in mourning for several days and not go about our daily business. >> september 13, secretary of state hillary clinton suggests the attack was just spontaneous demonstration about the anti-islam video. >> there is no justification. none at all. for responding to this video with violence. >> current white house press secretary jay carney says so flat out the next day. >> these protests were in reaction to a video. no information to suggest it was preplanned attack. >> then when they reach the deceased at fort andrews, they talk again at the video. >> we have seen rage and violence over awful internet video we had nothing to do with. >> september 15, california

authorities call the man who produced that video in for questioning. and marched him in front of tv cameras. >> do you have any regrets? >> susan rice goes on five sunday talk shows repeating the same story each time. >> it was spontaneous reaction to what transpired in cairo response to video. >> my rezax is where is secretary of state hillary clinton? >> john bolton served as u.s. ambassador under bush, the choice of rice is telling. >> from my own experience when you are a senior american official, you don't go on the sunday talk shows unless you're the white house choice. >> there were already internal difficulties within the administration. perhaps secretary clinton wasn't seen by the white house as the best spokesperson for what the administration wanted

to say. >> december 17, the state department. >> does the united states government regard what happens this benghazi as act of terro terror? eam not putting labels on this until we complete investigation. >> you don't regard it as terrorism? >> i don't think we know enough. >> former spokesman p.j. crowley. >> the first reports inethably have information that is correct an insurance that may be mis -- correct and information that may be misunderstood or incorrect. >> they panicked. >> john sununu now advisor to romney's campaign. >> this is a political reaction in the white house that prepared itself to establish a narrative of a president getting rid of the threat of terrorism, using the death of bin laden to focus on that.

waking up one morning and finding out that terrorism on 9/11 of this year was back full-fledged. killing the u.s. ambassador. i don't see political agenda here. i see the fog of war. it's not about politics. it's about the difficult task of reconstructing what happened. >> september 18. >> did the administration have any sort of heads up that violence was increasing specifically in libya before the attack? >> i am not aware of any ed. this is a matter under investigation in term whoofs precipitated the attack. motivation of attackers were. >> that night on the late show with david letterman the story shifts slightly. president obama said the video did spark muslim outrage, which terrorists exploited to attack and kill ambassadorsteins. >> you had a video that was released by somebody who lives

here. a shadowy character. this caused great offense in much of the muslim world. what also happened was extremists and terrorists use this as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies, including the consulate in libya. >> september 19, capitol hill. the head of the national counter terrorism center testifies and plainly state what is most everyone already knows. >> i would say yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on embassy. >> september 24, abc's "the view." >> there is no doubt that kind t kind of weapons that were used, the ongoing assault that it wasn't just a mob action. >> the next day, september 25, the president mentions the video six times at the united nations. >> there is no video that justifies an attack on an embassy. >> october 8, san francisco fundraiser, president obama pushing the idea that the

threat from al-qaeda is waning. >> today, al-qaeda is on appeal. usama bin laden is no more. [ applause ] >> then the next day, october 9, the state department provides off-camera a blow-by-blow account of the benghazi attack. reporters learn the compound was overwhelmed by an organized assault. fighters armed with machine guns, mortars an possibly rocket-propelled grenades. october 10. congress holds contentious hearing on the attack in libya. americans learn that the state department officials despite being warned of escalating attacks refuse to beef up security in libya. >> shocking revelation, made the first question in the next night's vice presidential debate all but inevitable. >> i would like to begin with libya. >> turned questions about what really happened in benghazi in to one of the most heated issues of the presidential campaign. >> beyond the controversy over who said what, our r bigger issues. next, "special report"

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attack. >> we have seen rage and violence directed at american embassies over an awful internet video. >> it was a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired in cairo. >> does the obama administration have a problem calling the threat by its name? >> no question that they have avoided the use of the word "terror." >> former congressman porter goss head of the c.i.a. under president george w. bush. >> we can't ignore criminal acts. we can't ignore terrorist acts. >> goss says the risk of ignoring terrorism is especially high in a part of the world awash in illegal weapons. libya was just such a part of the world. case and point, mistierian libyan ship in turkey. five days before ambassador chris steven, the information management officer sean smith and former navy seals tyrone woods an glen doherty killed kid in the assault in benghazi. according to an initial report by "times of london" 400-tons

of cargo on board. some of it humanitarian. it was reportedly also holding a large consignment of weapons headed for syrian's rebels. the ship and the cargo are a huge warning sign that the situation on the ground in libya is more dangerous than the state department may have realized. even before the well organized massive attack in benghazi that killed an ambassador that knew the threat from al-qaeda in region was large and growing. >> what do you think al-qaeda looks like today, especially in north africa? >> it's much stronger. it is spreading out. >> no question in your mind that al-qaeda is stronger in north africa today than it was four years ago? >> absolutely. all kind of new franchise operations. >> benghazi attack and the administration's reaction to it, suggests to goss that this white house doesn't get it. >> the problem is they are avoiding reality. bad things happen when you avoid reality. unfortunately we have just seen that. >> we are in a stronger position today than four years

ago. >> p.y. crowley for public affairs under president obama believe the policies are paying off; particularly, in libya. we have gone through a dramatic transition, you know, called the arab spring. the transition to democracy are repudiation of everything that bin laden stood for. and tried to achieve through violent means. >> crowley says you don't make americans safer with words that inflame. you do it by winning over those we can work with. >> at the stage where we need parter inship to solve any meaningful crisis around the world. the united states can never do that alone. >> do you believe there are a lot of dead americans as a result of the administration's refusal to call the threat what is it? >> i do. show signs of weakness, they take that as an opportunity. they will attack. >> bret: what did the president say and when did he say it?

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>> bret: the benghazi terror attacks. the white house responds. the november election. democrats accuse republicans of gotcha politics. republicans say this is an issue that cuts to the heart of the election. this much is certainly true. it's an, i that is not going away soon. by october the republican presidential nominee mitt romney is regularly hitting president obama hard on libya. >> the attack on our consulate can't be blamed on re reprehensible video. >> stephanie cutter insists

the only reason it's a political issue at all is because romney and ryan are making it one. october 11, right before the vice presidential debate. i asked her if she really meant that. >> what are you suggesting here? are you suggesting that we're playing politics with this? >> i'm not suggesting anything. you said that the entire reason this has become the political topic, four people are dead. >> absolutely. and this administration, let me just get my sentence out. this administration has treated this entire tragedy with the utmost seriousness. at the same time we're doing that, we have two people campaigning around the country, accusing us of covering something up. >> but in the vice presidential debate itself moderator martha raddatz makes libya her first question. >> wasn't this a massive intelligence failure, vice president biden? >> what it was, it was a tragedy, martha. we will get to bottom of it. whatever mistakes made were l not be made again. >> congressman ryan. >> what we're watching is the

unralling of the obama foreign poll isy. >> they wanted more security there. >> we weren't told they wanted more security. we did not know they wanted more security. >> biden not only places the blame scary on the state department and the intelligence community, he also seems to flatly contradict what state department officials have said under oath. that sends the administredaling. october 12. >> vice president said was that -- we were told they wanted more security there. >> he is talking about -- >> he was never briefed that more security was needed. >> clearly the white house is going to need a bus with a huge wheels for every ailment of the government they're throwing under there. >> conservative author and commentator marc stein has written about islamic terrorism for years. >> they have the state department under there. intelligence community. >> ambassador, speak with us about the attack in benghazi.

>> this is not an appropriate time. thank you for your interest. >> rice's boss will crawl under the bus herself. >> on october 15, monday, secretary of state hillary clinton says she takes responsibility for what happened in benghazi. >> i want to do everything i can to protect our people. i want to make sure we track down whoever did this. bring them to justice. >> clinton's mea culpa comes a day before the second presidential debate. where the president for the first time takes responsibility, too. then goes after romney. >> the day after the attack, governor, i stood in the rose garden. i told the american people that this was an act of terror. the suggestion that anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we have lost four of our own is offensive. >> bret: that set off an exchange that may go down as one of the most remarkable in the history of televised presidential debate. >> you said in rose guarden the day after the attack it

was an act of terror. it was not a spontaneous demonstration. is that what you are saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> all right. it want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in benghazi an act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> he did, in fact, sir. let me call it an act of terror. >> can you say that louder, candy? >> he did call it an act of terror. >> only after the debate does crowley admit that maybe she was the one with the facts wrong. syndicated columnist charles krauthammer was part of fox's debate coverage that night. >> she walked away from it next day. the intervention on behalf of romney was in front of 60 million people and will not know anything about her walking away. >> thursday october 18, report claims that secretary of state clinton ordered security in libya beefed up. request that was never carried out. just today, official state department cable showing

ambassador stevens was increasingly worried about al-qaeda security threats in the weeks leading up to the benghazi attack. and even cable signed by stevens on september 11, the day he was killed. more reasons for america to ask who is ultimate responsible for leaving those americans so vulnerable? >> if it's the white house, this will be devastating. >> but mark styn hopes the political post more tum doesn't obscure the more frightening fact that terrorism may be back with a vengeance and america is woefully unprepared. >> what is wicked about this, the real politicalization here is the guys who actually only see this in terms of, you know, oh, will it hurt us in ohio? might it cause us problems in florida? this could go bad for obama. n it's real bad for the united states, because this is humiliation for united states.

it's bad for chris stevens. it's bad for sean smith. it's bad for glen doherty. it's bad for tyone woods. they're dead. they're wrong. >> another reason i think i'm here. giving a voice to those who don't have a voice anymore. >> bret: brings us back to lieutenant colonel wood who saw the deadly debacle at benghazi coming. >> i can tell you are emotional about it. this ambassador was killed, the first one since 1979. he was your friend. >> it's a huge thing to have a loss like that. i grieve for his loss. i grieve for the loss that we'veed the nation, our job to defend the compound. >> i wish we could have been there. >> bret: the benghazi attack staggered america. we now have another reason to mourn on 9/11. a new unmistakable warning. the islamic terrorist who

brutalized our citizens in libya well-trained well-armed killers intent on doing us great harm. the brave beleaguered americans in libya knew that long before they died. the rest of us owe it to them to understand that, too. that is our program. i'm bret baier. i'm bret baier. thanks for [ male announcer ] how do you turn 30-million artifacts... ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece? whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. hahahaha! hooohooo, hahaha! this is awesome! whatever your business challenge,

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